Discerning drinker: Sweet treat

I rarely drink sweet wine or port: after a big meal, they're just too much. But Christmas is the obvious time to make an exception to such prudence.

If you choose to drink sweet wine with your Christmas pudding - or anything else - Hermits Hill Botrytis Semillon 2008, Riverina (M&S, £6.99) is a decent, affordable Australian stickie: sweet but not cloying, its richness cut with citrus notes. Far classier, though, is Waitrose Sauternes 2006 (£14.99 for 37.5cl), made by Premier Cru producer Château Suduiraut: rich, complex toffee notes but with lovely freshness and acidity. That a first-growth Bordeaux is going at this price is a measure of Sauternes' current unfashionability.

But my choice for a stickie would be Darting Estate Scheurebe Eiswein 2009, Pfalz (M&S, £18 for 37.5cl), its fruit so vivid, its sweetness cut with a fine, zesty acidity that will work much better with Christmas pudding. It's not cheap but then the grapes were hand-picked at sub-zero temperatures in December (hence Eiswein).

If you are truly unafraid of excess, reach for the sherry or port. Old amontillado or oloroso - aged and dry, not the nasty sweet stuff - can be devastatingly moreish of a Christmas afternoon. Both M&S and Tesco's own-brands are very good and reasonably priced. But Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Amontillado, made by Lustau, is best value at the ludicrous price of £7.99 for 50cl of fine, dry, complex nuttiness (the oloroso in the same range is almost as good). For a rarer sherry treat, try Gonzalez Byass's La Canoa Palo Cortado (Sainsbury's, £11.99) - complex and long.

For port, the deal of the season is Delaforce Quinta da Corte 1991 (Majestic, £7.99): a perfectly mature vintage port, full of rich, fruitcake flavours, dry and rounded. Alternatively, Graham's 10-year-old Tawny Port (Waitrose, £19.99 reduced to £15.99 until Jan 3) is well structured, wonderfully rich and spicy yet not at all heavy. But be warned: if you drink it with stilton, the classic match for this cask-seasoned port, you may well end up consuming rather morethan you intended.